Way, way back in our August 2002 issue, S&MM did a cover story on a gentleman by the name of Ken Krusensterna. Six years later, I wouldn’t be surprised if anyone who read it still has nightmares.

On November 4, 1998, Krusensterna—then the president of a Dallas-based trucking company—was abducted shortly after crossing the Mexican border. He had entered the country after dark (against his better judgment), set up by an employee in league with the kidnappers.

For the next 14 days, while his abductors demanded a $350,000 ransom from his family, Krusensterna was held captive and tortured. Luckily, Mexican officials working with the FBI succeeded in tracking the kidnappers. Krusensterna was finally freed in a dramatic rescue operation, but the physical and psychological after-effects of the experience were substantial. Following his recovery, he closed his business and opened a security consulting firm in Phoenix, determined to help other traveling businessmen avoid a similar fate.

Needless to say, overseas travel for Americans has become anything but safer in the decade following Krusensterna’s ordeal. And for the upper-level sales executive—an individual whose appearance and behavior are often tantamount to holding up a big neon dollar sign—the dangers are magnified tenfold.

In the forthcoming July/August issue of S&MM, you’ll find an excellent article penned by Ed Lee, a retired U.S. State Department Regional Security Officer who spent much of his career protecting U.S. diplomats and business executives abroad. Presently the managing director of Sleeping Bear Risk Solutions (www.sbrisksolutions.com), he’s also the author of the new book Staying Safe Abroad: Traveling, Working and Living in a Post-9/11 World.

As his credentials and the title of the book would lead you to believe, Lee is someone who knows a thing or two about staying safe overseas. And in the upcoming story, he shares proven strategies for doing just that with S&MM’s readers. Give it a read—the few minutes it takes to do so may well add years to your life.